The three of them froze.
Too drunk to notice the change in the air, the man carried on. “You—the skinny one with creepy eyes—you have magic too, don’t you?” He pointed at the three of them. “You’re the reason why Revenants attack us. We should lock all of you up and feed you to those bloody monsters.”
“What did you say?” Zizi’s voice was soft and deadly. He released Yiran.
The man teetered forward. “I called you a freak. What are you going to do about it? Huh?”
Rui was shaking with anger, but she reminded herself that if things went south, the Academy’s reputation would be affected.
Yiran looked too appalled to speak. But Zizi’s fingers were twitching, and he shrugged his blazer off. He was about to throw a punch orcast a spell on the man. Zizi didn’t care about what people thought of his appearance, but he had no tolerance for bigots, and the drunk man in front of them was a prime example of one.
“There you are, darling! I was looking for you.”
A woman dressed in black lace draped herself over the drunk man. Her face was lightened by powder, her black hair ran to her waist, and her sickly sweet perfume was so strong Rui wanted to sneeze.
The woman tugged the drunk man’s arm. “Let’s go. You promised me dessert and I’m dying for some mango snow slush. Leave those kids alone; they’re not worth your time.”
The man started to grumble, but the woman cajoled him. As they walked away, Rui caught the woman sneaking a glance back at the three of them. An odd shiver went down her spine. There was something unusual about the woman’s expression. She looked like she was gloating, like she had a secret nobody knew.
Zizi picked his blazer up from the ground and dusted it off. “That tasteless fool is wrong. My eyes are beautiful.”
“I can’t believe he said people with magic should be locked up andfedto Revenants,” Yiran raged.
“It’s not the most uncommon opinion,” Zizi told him.
“It’s not?”
Zizi stared stonily back. “Welcome to the real world, Mr. Lives-in-a-Gilded-Cage. Guess you might not know how some people feel about magic practitioners. Unfortunately, that man isn’t entirely wrong. It’s a fact that wearemore likely to attract Revenants.”
“That’s why the Academy is on an offshore island,” Rui said quietly, rubbing her arms. She was feeling the chill in her bones again. “It can be protected more easily from Revenants, but also, if there’s a massive attack on us, we’re far enough from the mainland that no one else will get hurt when we go down.”
Yiran looked sickened.
The door to the karaoke club opened.
Loud music and chatter filled the street as people spilled out. Mai appeared and made a beeline for Yiran, dragging him to the group of seniors who were gathering.
Ada came over, linking arms with Rui. “I was looking for you. It’s time to go back to campus.” She eyed Zizi with curiosity. “Who’sthis?”
“Nobody,” he said. He gave Rui a wink and turned on his heel.
Rui stared at his retreating back. She wanted him to stay. But it was time to return to their respective worlds.
“Is he a friend?” Ada asked.
“Just someone I ran into.”
Ada shot her a knowing smile. “Men don’t do it for me, but even I know he’s objectively hot. Is that why you look like you want to punch him?”
“What?”
“Punch him softly”—Ada said dramatically, fluttering her eyelashes—“with yourlips.”
Rui fought with her own face and failed. It only made Ada laugh harder.
“You’re red and I know you didn’t drink tonight. I was only teasing, unless—”
“Unless nothing,” Rui groaned. “If you say anything else I’m going to throw myself into the garbage truck across the street.”
